Protruding Saddle Roof Structure of Toraja, Minang and Toba Batak House: Learning from Traditional Structure System Esti Asih Nurdiah Department of Architecture, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Planning, Petra Christian University, Indonesia
[email protected] ABSTRACT Structure system of Nusantara Architecture has been known for its durability. Traditional structure knowledge was passed from generation through folksong, storytelling or old verse. Toraja, Minang, and Toba Batak have similar house roof shape which is gable roof with protruding at the end like buffalo horn. The similarities in structural system need to be elaborate. This paper attempts to seek the structural system of Toraja, Minangkabau and Toba Batak house, especially the roof structure system. The research conducted to discover the similarities of the roof structure system, study the construction and tectonics, and also learn the load transfer. By learning from local knowledge of building structure system, people can learn to build new buildings using local wisdom, instead of only imitate the form. © 2011 12th SENVAR. All rights reserved. Keywords: Structure system, Toraja, Batak Toba, Minang house 1. Introduction Nusantara archipelago has thousands of islands which scattered in Pacific and Indian ocean. Indonesia itself has more than 13,000 islands, inhabited by many tribes with different culture, tradition and architecture. Moreover, the beauty and uniqueness of house form represent as identity for each tribe. Every tribe who lives in different location has different form and shape of house, especially the roof shape. The houses are the symbolic center of a web of customs, social relations, traditional laws, taboos, myths and religion (Dawson & Gillow, 1994:10) Structure system of Nusantara Architecture, which also known as traditional architecture, has been known for its durability.